1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information providing system, an apparatus and method for information processing, and a computer program. In particular, the present invention relates to an information providing system for providing information on the basis of information communicated using an IC card, an apparatus and method for information processing, and a computer program.
2. Description of the Related Art
As recognized by the inventor, there are used a system, called “digital signage”, in which advertising information is displayed on a display installed in a public space or a shop (store) to provide the advertising information to users and a system in which a poster is provided with an IC chip capable of performing near field communication and information is output from the IC chip to an IC card held by a user.
In such a system, for example, a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip includes an IC circuit and an antenna and can perform contactless communication. The RFID chip is attached to a digital signage or a smart poster. When a user brings an IC card having a contactless communication function close to (or over) the RFID chip, information, e.g., product information stored in a memory in the RFID chip is transmitted to the IC card held by the user and is stored in a memory in the IC card.
To use information stored in the IC card, the user touches a personal computer (PC) having a reader/writer (R/W) function with the IC card, alternatively, holds the IC card over the PC to output the information stored in the IC card to the PC, so that the stored information can be displayed on a display of the PC. Such an information providing system is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-269508.
The above-described system needs a PC having the reader/writer (R/W) function for viewing information stored in an IC card. Disadvantageously, it is difficult for users having no PC with the reader/writer (R/W) function to view information stored in an IC card.
In addition, since the storage capacity of a memory included in a typical IC card is small, the amount of data stored in the IC card is limited. It is difficult to store, for example, high-quality image data in the memory of the IC card. Disadvantageously, if the user views only data stored in the IC card, the amount of information that the user can acquire is limited.